


The Angel Shipped It

by Eff_Dragonkiller



Series: 2020 Trope Bingo [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Canon Divergence, Dark Implications of Worldbuilding, Divination, Fluff, M/M, Religious Themes, blink and you might miss it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:53:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25519096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eff_Dragonkiller/pseuds/Eff_Dragonkiller
Summary: There were ways to see the Angel's plan if you knew how. And divination just happened to be a skill Alec possessed.Torn between what his heart wanted and what his head knew was the best choice for his family, Alec throws the stones.
Relationships: Alec Lightwood & Isabelle Lightwood, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Series: 2020 Trope Bingo [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1817557
Comments: 23
Kudos: 197
Collections: Just Write! Trope Bingo





	The Angel Shipped It

**Author's Note:**

> This is a prompt fill for the Just Write! Trope Bingo. The prompt was canon divergence. 
> 
> This was inspired by a conversation on the Malec Discord Server about Seer!Alec. It's not the same as the idea but thanks for this plot bunny goes to Selene Dreamwalker and ValkyrieNyght.

“Did you know? That Mom and Dad were part of the Circle?”

“No,” Izzy said as she closed the door behind her with a quiet click. “But I’m not surprised. Mom and Dad have always had opinions about Downworlders. I can see them fitting in rather well with the Circle honestly.”

Alec didn’t respond, instead, he stared at the wooden box he’d pulled from beneath his bed. The pale wood had gone dark at the corners from years of varnish and dirt. There was a permanent stain in the middle of the lid colored a vague shade of purple from when Jace and he had spent the night asking the Angel again and again if joining as parabatai was a good choice. Alec still wasn’t certain they’d read the signs correctly, but he’d never regretted the choice. 

Not until Clary at least.

He understood. Really, he did. Clary was cute and vulnerable and she needed Jace in a way his parabatai thought no one ever had. Except that Alec had needed him. Alec had always needed him, and Jace rarely noticed. 

Then again, they’d only had to make the mistake of having Jace read the signs once. His sight was no better than a mundane’s.

“Do you mind if I stay,” Izzy asked, already sitting down, “if you’re going to do a reading?”

“You’re already sitting aren’t you?”

“I could leave,” Izzy took a deep breath, “but I’m scared, big brother. Really scared. There’s the Circle, Valentine, and the Mortal Cup. Mom and Dad can’t be trusted, and everywhere I turn people I’ve been friends with for years are looking at me like I plan to stab them through the heart. I’m scared. And I’ve never done well with fear.”

Alec was sure that no Lightwood ever dealt well with fear. They were a family made for action. It was part of their motto, after all. Lightwoods break noses and take the consequences.

“Start thinking of a question, Izzy,” Alec said as he removed the lid of the box. Inside the pale wood, box was divided into sections, each tool covered in the black silk cloth that protected its power. Just like the angel-oak wood of the box protected it. 

Most of the tools were new. Tarot cards needed to be personal and to mate with their diviner’s power. Alec had actually broken his last dowsing rod, and Izzy had tripped over the original telescope and broken the crystal mirror inside. 

Other things were inherited. Both sets of grandparents had died before Alec had been born. The crystal ball was from his Trueblood Grandmother though, just like the dice and the knucklebones were originally part of the Lightwood estate. 

And of course, the incense needed to be replaced every six months and the candles when they burnt down.

“What were you originally going to ask about?” 

Alec paused in examining the candles, wondering if he really needed them or not. They were more used than he remembered, but he hadn’t had the time to do a divining in months. Technically he still didn’t have the time. Lydia had kept him for a conversation about the battle-readiness of the Institute, which had cut into the time he normally did paperwork. Then his mother had scheduled him for a patrol without asking. Not to mention all the back work he had to do for Jace and the unauthorized missions he’d taken to indulging in like candy. Alec was so far behind in work it was going to take him an eternity to dig himself out.

He was making time for this tonight.

“Mother gave me the Lightwood family ring,” Alec said finally. “Told me that she’d spoken with Lydia’s mother and both agreed that it was a good match.” The sides of the wooden box cut into his hands, “They’ve already spoken to Inquisitor Herondale about it. She promised that our union was viewed favorably by the Clave and that she didn’t believe that we would be on probation for more than a year if that.”

Izzy stared open-mouthed at her brother, “Alec, you’re gay!”

“Mother thinks it’s a phase.”

“You’ve never once found a woman attractive!” Izzy huffed, “You would have jumped to marry her so fast her head would spin! You can’t marry Lydia when you’ve got Magnus!”

“I don’t  _ have _ Magnus,” Alec protested. “Do you know the fit the Clave, hell, Mother would throw if I dated a  _ warlock _ ?  _ The _ Warlock?”

“But you could love him,” Izzy complained softly, her mouth frowning and her eyes sad. “He could make you happy,  _ hermano _ . You deserve to be happy.”

Alec bit back the urge to tell his sister that Lydia could make him happy. That going from ‘Acting’ to ‘Head’ of the New York Institute would make him happy. He knew his sister’s opinion of duty and how much she believed that he couldn’t live for it the way he’d always told her. He didn’t say anything at all.

With the candles lit and the mat place, Alec poured out the rune stones into his hand just to feel the weight. The gathering power made the hair on the back of his neck rise and a shiver go down his spine. 

“Runes?” Izzy asked quietly, the practice not quite started yet. “I thought you preferred the knucklebones?”

“I inherited the knucklebones from Dad’s Dad.” He stared resolutely at his sister, “He’d been so chuffed that one of his kids had the clear sight. So pleased to pass down the bones. ‘Been in the family hundreds of years, Alec, very conducive to magic. Treat them well’, he’d said. What do you want to bet they’re the knucklebones of a warlock, Izzy?”

She turned pale and then green at the thought, “I could try to find out? Take them to the lab, run some tests. There might be blood left? Or I could take a sample.”

“Probably ruin them.”

“Are you ever going to use them without knowing?” Izzy pointed out, “They’re just going to sit in your chest and worry you every time you open the box. Wouldn’t it be better to know even if it does ruin them?”

“Later,” Alec said in agreement. Handing over the knucklebones when the runestones were already opened could mess up the reading. Pouring the stones back into their bag, Alec reached for his stele.

One of the oldest runes the Clave had a record of was the Kassaniki. It wasn’t in the Grey Book, instead, it had been passed down through the original families. The story went that it had been gifted from the Angel to give the Nephilim direction. But it was a brutal rune, it had driven more than one Nephilim insane wearing it too long. Nowadays, most didn’t know about it and those who did know of it were too scared to try it. 

It had been Alec’s first rune. The same way it was the first rune for all Trueblood children, horrifying though the experience could be. 

Maryse had been too busy to attend Izzy or Max’s rune ceremonies. Alec had made certain of it.

He inhaled and drew the swirling twisty pattern of the rune on the skin of his hand. His right hand, that is. It had to be drawn on the hand that would throw.

Alec pours the rune stones out into his palm and just holds them. With his eyes closed, he focused on the power gathering in his palm and the question on his mind. Except, it kept turning on him.

He wanted to know if he had a future as the Head of the New York Institute, but all he could see was that smirk curling the corner of the High Warlock of Brooklyn’s mouth.

He wanted to know if the Circle could be stopped, but all he could think about was Magnus Bane’s laugh.

He wanted to ask about his parents; if they could be trusted, but Alec was stuck on the soft sorrowful look in Magnus’s eyes as he named his dead.

Lydia or Magnus? Lydia or Magnus?

Alec threw. Izzy bit her lip, mirth dancing in her eyes as he took in the fall of the stones. He took a deep breath and considered throwing again, just in case. There wasn’t a lot of room for misinterpretation though. 

Out of the entire bag of stone, there were only three that showed their faces. Man. Magic. Love. Apparently, the Angel shipped it.

Alec slumped with a sigh and Izzy burst out laughing.

“By the Angel, Alec,” Izzy ran her thumbs under her eyes, catching the tears of mirth that streaked down her cheeks, “You’re literally meant to be!” She choked laughing again, “the Angel says it’s so!”

“We have free will, you know,” Alec complained, but his heart wasn’t really in it. Izzy wasn’t wrong.

This was a sign from the Angel.  _ The _ sign Alec had asked for even. How disrespectful would it be if he ignored it? Alec didn’t want to find out, and not just because being smote would ruin his entire year. 

Damn.  _ Even the Angel shipped it. _

“What are you going to do?” Izzy asked, her makeup smudged in a way Alec had never seen it, a smile curling the edge of her lips. “Still going to marry Lydia?”

Alec sighed as he finished blowing out the candles. He was going to end up regretting this. “I’m going to need your help. I have no idea what you wear to pick a warlock up for a date.”

Izzy squealed as she ran to his closet. Alec smiled even though he knew he’d spend the next hour arguing with his sister every step of the way. Helping him would make her happy, and Alec couldn’t fault her for that, even if her taste in clothes ran to ‘tight’ and ‘uncomfortable’. 

\---

Alec rubbed a hand over the stones in his pocket. Magic, love, and man. The Angel’s promise was just on the other side of the door if Alec could get the courage to knock. Love, magic, man.

He knocked.

“Well, if it isn’t the pretty archer boy,” Magnus Bane said, leaning against his door. “What are you doing at my door?”

Alec took a deep breath and offered the very magical warlock his best smile, “Asking you to dinner. There’s a production of  _ The Winter’s Tale _ in the park tonight and I figured you might know of a deli on the way that makes good food.”

“I didn’t know you were a fan of Shakespeare.” Magnus’s smile softened at the corners and grew a little wider. A tension Alec hadn’t quite noticed drained from his shoulders as he took Alec in again much slower this time. Izzy had bemoaned the state of his closet, but they’d done the best they could on short notice. 

He hoped there weren’t any stains.

“I’ve read them all,” Alec shrugged self-consciously, “I thought if you didn’t like Shakespeare, you might enjoy having a picnic and telling crazy stories.” Alec smirked, “You seem to like telling crazy stories.”

Magnus threw his head back and laughed. 

“You’ve got me there.” He frowned playfully, “Rude to just show up for a date though, I could have been busy. I’m definitely not dressed right.”

“I, uh,” Alec blinked. Right, people normally need warnings before an event. “I was probably going to chicken out if I had to wait.” He bit his lip, “I nearly turned around before I knocked.”

“What changed your mind?”

“I’d be happy to tell you,” Alec said offering his hand, “if you come to the park with me.”

Magnus squinted at him, “Bribery, huh?”

“Is it working?” Alec asked, wiggling his fingers.

“Yes.” Magnus finally said, stepping out into the hall and shutting the door behind him. 

Alec couldn't help but notice that the other man's hand fit in his like a key within a lock. Matched. 

Divination was a powerful force even if it was vulnerable to misinterpretation. There was no uncertainty here though. Just a possibility of what could be with some effort.

Magic. Man. Love.


End file.
